The Kind Of Love You Never Recover From
by VampedVixen
Summary: Can Ariadne ever really be happy with the God of Wine?


"Are you happy here, my sweet Ariadne?" Dionysus touched his hand to her breast, teasing the nipple between his fingers. In the short time they had known each other, he had tried everything to make her forget about Theseus, the hero of Athens, who had stolen her heart away. He felt her shift in their shared bed of animal skins and Mediterranean vines. "I would do anything for you, this you know. I would steal the stars from the sky and place you up there to be the one true beacon of light. I would bring you fine wines of the rarest grapes. I would have my servants wait on you hand and foot, fulfilling every desire you could think."

Ariadne shifted again, laying her head of black curls against his naked torso. She closed her eyes and replied. "You could do all this and more. I trust that you would do nearly anything if I asked."

"But--"

There was a missing piece to the puzzle, something that even a deity such as himself could not complete. Sounds of the revelers of the bacchanalia came from outside the thatch hut they had made their home. Music, laughter and grunts of the various drunken orgies filled the silence between Ariadne and Dionysus. Instead of finishing the sentence that still hung in the air, Ariadne said, "Do you remember when you first found me alone on the shores of Naxos?"

"Moonlight lit the shores of the island that night, bouncing off the water like fine wine. Still, you were by the far the true beauty of that night, alone by your bundle of firewood, a babe lost in the woods." He had a gift for finding the poetry in such ordinary surroundings. "You were so innocent back then, a princess of Crete, tossed aside by a treacherous man who left you alone and lonely."

"Theseus.." Her voice said the name slowly, catching on old memories and past loves. "He left me there for you to find. That is how the fates wanted my story to play out, I suppose."

"Yes," There was something in the tone of her voice that troubled Dionysus, something that told him that the past was refusing to die. "He was a horrible man, leaving you there without even building you a decent fire for warmth or a bed for shelter. It was I who saved you from near death and protected you from harm, bringing you here to my cult where you are worshiped as a goddess of wine and loved as my consort."

"I know." She nodded, turning from him and sitting on the edge of the bed. Her naked porcelain figure shone in the moonlight that came in through the window. Reaching for her peplos, she began slipping it on. It was strange to see her with clothes on, most of the time she went naked here like the rest of the cult members and like Dionysus himself. "I know how much you've done for me and I thank you for it."

She was shivering, even with the warmth the peplos provided. Dionysus sat beside her, brushing his hand over her smooth skin. Something was breaking down. Something had been breaking down for weeks now, only he was too wrapped up in her beauty and the love of his wine to have noticed. "I would do anything for you and he would only leave you for dead."

Turning until she was face to face with him, Ariadne's eyes still could not meet his gaze. "You have given me wine to forget him, a bed to share your company in and a home where I am loved as a deity. But this could never be my home. There could never be enough spirits to make me forget his name but somehow this love still lives within my heart. I can not be your consort and I can not be their deity. I am just a princess of Crete, a sheltered girl who could never belong in this world of mystic festivals and wild sex."

"What are you saying?"

"I need to go home." She explained, "A cargo ship passed by the island yesterday. I summoned them to the shore, where I exchanged a bit of wine and food for safe passage to my home. They're leaving at sun-up this morning and I plan to be on that ship, so I may travel back to the place I belong."

At first the god of wine couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. A mortal was leaving this life of feasting, pleasure and immortality to set off for a more normal life where she would pine for the love that never loved her back. He didn't understand, but it was her choice. Although he feared she was making it for the wrong reasons. "He doesn't love you. It doesn't matter if you return to where he may find you again, he will never come calling for you."

"I know." Ariadne said with a sadness that echoed in the room. "Theseus left me for dead, he could never have done that if he cared about me. Nevertheless, hiding here with you is wrong. I can not put my head in the sand any longer, denying that my heart is broken by continuing to drink and making merry with men I hardly know. I have to go back and rebuild my life."

"If this is what you must do," Dionysus bid her goodbye with one final kiss, breathing in the scent of her hair and trying desperately to hold onto the moment. "I will love you forever and if ever you decide to come back to the shores of my island, I will be waiting for you."

He watched her leave and knew that she would never return. When morning finally came and he could feel the ship departing his lands, Dionysus called for one of his servants to bring him another bottle of wine. This was not a day he wanted to experience sober.

-Fin-


End file.
